Last week, Newmont Mining (NEM) filed for arbitration against the Indonesian government over export taxes, a move that didn’t make the government happy to say the least. Cowen’s Adam Graf and Misha Levental explain:
REUTERSPress reports out of the Indonesian press quote Indonesian government officials requesting that Newmont Mining withdraw its filing for international arbitration against the government. The filing was in response to newly imposed export bans, taxes, and fees to be imposed on Newmont Mining’s subsidiary, on exports of copper concentrate. Due to this, Newmont has not exported copper concentrate since January, has declared force majeure, and has idled activity at its Batu Hijau mine.
Both the Economic Affairs Minister and the Energy Minister have been quoted. They ask for Newmont Mining to withdraw its filing and return to the negotiation table, otherwise they will be no longer considered “good partners.” Newmont and the government had been in negotiations for 6 months without reaching a resolution. Newmont’s Contract of Work (COW) reportedly precludes new taxes or fees, and ensures the ability to export concentrate. The same contract reportedly provides that disputes between parties can be subject to international arbitration.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Own For 2015: Alon USA Energy Inc. (ALJ)
Alon USA Energy, Inc. engages in refining and marketing petroleum products primarily in the South Central, Southwestern, and Western regions of the United States. The company operates in three segments: Refining and Marketing, Asphalt, and Retail. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil into petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, petrochemicals, feed stocks, asphalts, and other petroleum products. It markets finished products and blend stocks through sales and exchanges with other oil companies, state and federal governmental entities, unbranded wholesale distributors, and various other third parties. This segment also markets motor fuels to distributors under the Alon brand; and licenses Alon brand name and provides payment card processing services, advertising programs, and loyalty and other marketing programs to licensed locations. The Asphalt segment is involved in the marketing of patented tire rubber modified asphalt products; and production of paving and roofing grades of asphalt comprising performance-graded asphalts, emulsions, and cutbacks. This segment sells paving asphalt to road and materials manufacturers and highway construction/maintenance contractors; polymer modified or emulsion asphalt to highway maintenance contractors; and roofing asphalt to roofing shingle manufacturers or other industrial users. The Retail segment operates retail convenience stores that offer various grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, food products, tobacco products, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, and general merchandise primarily under the 7-Eleven and Alon brands. As of December 31, 2012, it had 298 retail convenience stores located in Central and West Texas, and New Mexico. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Alon USA Energy, Inc. is a subsidiary of Alon Israel Oil Company, Ltd.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Smith]
The Department of Defense issued $1.3 billion worth of new contract awards Friday. However, a single, $950 million award for engineering services accounted for the bulk of the spending -- and that one went to a series of privately held companies. Publicly traded names fared less well. Among the few winners:
- [By Robert Rapier] In last week’s issue I discussed the basics of the refining sector. Today I will provide an overview of four MLPs that hold refining assets.
To review, the refining sector was very profitable in 2012 thanks to unusually high crack spreads, which for many US refiners are approximated by the price differential between Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oils. For a more thorough explanation of this phenomenon, please refer to last week’s issue.
After years of trading at a $1 to $3 per barrel discount to WTI, Brent began fetching a premium a few years ago as a glut of crude developed in the mid-continent area of the US. In 2011 the Brent-WTI price differential increased to more than $25/bbl, and it remained historically high in 2012.
But pipeline capacity started to catch up this year, and the share prices of refiners retreated as the glut began to dissipate and the Brent-WTI differential shrank. In Q3 2012, the Brent-WTI differential averaged $17.43/bbl, but by Q3 of this year, the differential had fallen to $4.43/bbl. This promises bad news for refiners about to report Q3 earnings.
Many analysts downgraded the refining sector in Q3, but as the differential fell below $5/bbl it was hard to imagine that the news could get much worse. With poor Q3 results largely priced in, the differential subsequently rose back above $10/bbl, signaling better refining margins moving into Q4.
Refiners began to post earnings this past week, and as expected they were weak. Valero (NYSE: VLO) reported slightly higher revenues year-over-year, but net earnings fell more than 50 percent from a year ago. Nevertheless, they beat the extremely pessimistic expectations of analysts, and Valero shares rose on the news.
Phillips 66’s (NYSE: PSX) refining unit actually posted a loss, but its chemical business turned in a solid quarter which more than compensated for the disappointing refining results.
The rest of the refine - [By Tom Dorsey]
Over a several day period, I submitted questions and Mr. Eisman, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Alon USA Energy Inc. (ALJ) and the parent company of Alon USA Partners LP Inc. (ALDW) responded. He provided some key insights to some challenges the company faces, where the company is going, and the opportunities available in the future. This insight should provide investors with additional information to understand the value of the company and the opportunity as an investor in the company.
Top 5 Prefered Companies For 2014: Publicis Groupe SA (PUB)
Publicis Groupe SA (Publicis Groupe) is a France-based company engaged in the provision of advertising services, specialized agencies and marketing services (SAMS) and media services. Its primary activities include communications, media agency, and digital and healthcare communications. Publicis Groupe offers local and international clients a complete range of advertising services through three global advertising networks: Leo Burnett, Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi, and two multi-hub networks, Fallon and 49%-owned Bartle Bogle Hegarty. In August 2013, the Company acquired Engauge Marketing LLC. In November 2013, it announced the acquisition of ETO. In November 2013, it acquired majority of shares of Walker Media from M&C Saatchi PLC. In December 2013, Publicis Groupe SA acquired Synergize Digital Pty Ltd. In December 2013, it acquired Verilogue Inc. In January 2014, it acquired Qorvis Communications. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jonathan Morgan]
European stocks climbed to a six-week high as Publicis (PUB) Groupe SA posted increased profit, London Stock Exchange Group Plc reported higher revenue and fewer Americans than forecast filed jobless-benefit claims.
Top 5 Prefered Companies For 2014: athenahealth Inc.(ATHN)
athenahealth, Inc., a business services company, provides ongoing billing, clinical-related, and other related services to medical group practices primarily in the United States. It provides services through the athenaNet, a proprietary Internet-based practice management application. The company primarily offers athenaCollector, a revenue cycle management service that automates and manages billing-related functions for physician practices, and includes a practice management platform. The athenaCollector assists its physician clients with the handling of claims and billing processes to help manage reimbursement. The company also provides Anodyne Analytics, a business intelligence application, which provides physicians and practice managers with insight into practice performance. In addition, it offers athenaClinicals, an electronic health record service that automates and manages medical-record-management-related functions for physician practices, as well as assists medical groups with the handling of physician documentation, orders, and related inbound and outbound communications. Further, the company provides athenaCommunicator that allows practices to manage patient communication tasks electronically, including the use of automated reminder calls; the creation of a self-service patient portal for registration, appointment requests, bill payments, and general communication; automatic generation of emails to patients; and patient education tools. It sells its products through a direct sales force, as well as through channel partners. The company was formerly known as athenahealth.com, Inc. and changed its name to athenahealth, Inc. in November 2000. athenahealth, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Steve Symington]
Take athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN ) , for instance, which focuses entirely on developing cloud-based tools for streamlining medical practice management, electronic health records, patient communications, care coordination, and account collection.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Athenahealth Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink Swann.
BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) was raised to Hold from Sell at Canaccord Genuity, but only now that a first buyout offer has put in a likely floor.
- [By Matt Jarzemsky var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]
The deal follows a rally in shares of so-called ��loud��software makers like Castlight, which provide their offerings over the Web to subscription-paying customers. Shares of health-records and billing software maker Athenahealth Inc.(ATHN) rallied 83% the year through Thursday. Employee-benefits software firm Benefitfocus Inc.(BNFT) is up 119% since its September IPO, as of the latest close.
- [By Luke Jacobi]
Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) gained 24.05 percent to $1310.83 following a strong third quarter report and a conference call that impressed traders.
Top 5 Prefered Companies For 2014: Lam Research Corporation(LRCX)
Lam Research Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipments used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company offers etch products that remove portions of various films from the wafer in the creation of semiconductor devices. Its etch products include dielectric etch, conductor etch, three-dimensional integrated circuit etch, MEMS devices, CMOS image sensors, and power devices for etching process. Lam Research Corporation also provides wafer cleaning steps that comprise post-etch and post-strip cleans, and pre-diffusion and pre-deposition cleans; and single-wafer wet clean and plasma-based bevel clean systems. The company offers its products to semiconductor manufacturers. It operates in the United States, Europe, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and the Asia Pacific. Lam Research Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Markus Aarnio]
Lam Research Corporation (LRCX) designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits.
- [By Brian Stoffel]
3. Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX ) , P/E of 166
Lam's core business is in making equipment that helps to manufacture computer chips. The company trades at a lofty 166 times earnings right now, but if Lam is able to meet analyst expectations for 2013, today's price is just 12 times expected earnings. - [By Sean Williams]
Another aspect about Richard Wallace's leadership is that it's led to solid cash-flow generation and a huge net cash position on KLA's balance sheet. KLA ended the most recent quarter with more than $2.1 billion in net cash, which can be used to make acquisitions, repurchase shares, pay dividends, or simply buffer the company against normal economic contractions. Over the past three years, KLA has delivered nearly $2.1 billion in cumulative free cash flow. Comparatively speaking, this is what gives KLA its greatest edge over both Applied Materials�and Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX ) , which have a net debt position of $180 million and a net cash position of $1.06 billion.
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